Angels Designate Nick Sandlin For Assignment
The Angels announced that left-hander Sam Aldegheri has been recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake. In a corresponding move, right-hander Nick Sandlin has been designated for assignment. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.
Sandlin, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Halos in the offseason. He was added to the big league roster about three weeks ago. Since then, he has logged 8 2/3 innings but has unfortunately surrendered 11 earned runs in that time. He allowed nine hits, including two home runs. He walked five batters and hit another three while striking out five opponents.
The Angels have bumped him off the roster after those struggles. He has options but he just hit five years of big league service time in recent weeks. By getting to that line, he can no longer be optioned to the minors without his consent, hence the DFA. He can be in DFA limbo for as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Halos could take five days to field trade interest, but they could also put him on waivers sooner than that.
Sandlin does have some major league success but the past year or so has been rough for him. From 2021 to 2025, he logged 211 2/3 innings in the show with a 3.19 earned run average. His 11.4% walk rate was high but he struck out 27.3% of batters faced. Injuries hobbled him with the Jays last year. He made trips to the injured list for a lat strain and then later for elbow inflammation. He only tossed 16 1/3 innings around those IL stints. The Jays outrighted him in November and Sandlin elected free agency.
The Angels were hoping for a bounceback but couldn’t get it. He started his season with a 1.42 ERA in 6 1/3 Triple-A innings but with poor underlying metrics. That low ERA was mostly a byproduct of a .222 batting average on balls in play and 87.5% strand rate. When he got called up to the majors, his results regressed to an extreme degree.
If Sandlin clears waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency. His recent form has been rough but some clubs may be interested in signing him to a minor league deal, hoping he can get back to his previous form with some regular reps.
Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images
Angels Place Yusei Kikuchi On 15-Day Injured List
Prior to today’s game with the Mets, the Angels placed left-hander Yusei Kikuchi on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to April 30) due to left shoulder inflammation. Left-hander Tayler Saucedo had his contract selected from Triple-A to fill Kikuchi’s 26-man roster spot and fill the open spot on the Halos’ 40-man roster.
An IL trip seemed likely once Kikuchi left his start last Wednesday after just two innings of work. As MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger noted, Kikuchi’s velocity was 1.3mph lower than usual on Wednesday, so it seemed like something wasn’t quite right from the jump when the southpaw took the mound.
Kikuchi underwent an MRI on Friday but Angels general manager Perry Minasian didn’t have any updates on the results when speaking with Bollinger and other reporters. “We’re just waiting on how it progresses. He’s getting looked at and he’ll get looked at again,” Minasian said.
The injury adds to what has already been an uninspiring beginning to Kikuchi’s 2026 season. Over seven starts and 31 innings of work, Kikuchi has a 5.81 ERA, 23.2% strikeout rate, and 9.9% walk rate, plus other secondary metrics that generally sit only slightly above or below the league average. Kikuchi’s 4.16 SIERA is more reflective of his overall performance, as his actual ERA has been inflated by some bad batted-ball luck (.352 BABIP).
Led by Jose Soriano‘s sterling work, the Los Angeles rotation has been pretty decent this year despite a number of injuries that thinned out the depth chart. Kikuchi joins Grayson Rodriguez, Ryan Johnson, and Alek Manoah on the 15-day IL, leaving Caden Dana as perhaps the likeliest Triple-A candidate to be called up as a replacement starter. Minasian said the team hadn’t yet decided on a replacement, but since Dana last pitched on Thursday, he might line up well for Kikuchi’s spot.
Saucedo was signed to a minor league contract in January, and the lefty is now in line for his first MLB action of the 2026 season. Saucedo has appeared in each of the previous five seasons, and had good numbers out of Seattle’s bullpen in 2023-24 before stumbling to a 7.43 ERA over 13 1/3 innings for the Mariners in 2025. Between the lack of production and a two-month injury absence due to a lat strain, it was essentially a lost year for Saucedo, culminating in a non-tender from the Mariners in November.
A .378 BABIP certainly contributed to Saucedo’s struggles in 2025, particularly since the southpaw is a grounder specialist with a 56.2% career grounder rate. Saucedo has always had so-so control at best, but his okay strikeout ability and his knack for inducing grounders could lead to better results if he gets even average batted-ball luck, like his .298 BABIP from 2023-24.
Joey Lucchesi Elects Free Agency
May 1: Lucchesi has again exercised free agency after clearing outright waivers, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. It wouldn’t be surprising if he again returns on a minor league deal.
April 29: The Angels recalled lefty Mitch Farris from Triple-A Salt Lake and designated fellow left-hander Joey Lucchesi for assignment, the club announced Wednesday.
Lucchesi was selected to the major league roster Sunday, marking his second stint of the season with the Halos. The 32-year-old pitched in Sunday’s game and again last night, combining for an inning of work and surrendering three runs. The well-traveled southpaw has totaled 3 1/3 frames in the majors with the Angels this season and been tagged for five runs on seven hits, six walks and a hit batter. He’s fanned four of his 24 opponents (16.7%).
Lucchhesi made 56 solid starts for the Padres in 2018-19, his first two seasons in the big leagues, but has since bounced around the league, working mostly as a reliever and swingman. Dating back to the 2020 season, he’s pitched 142 2/3 innings for four teams (Padres, Mets, Giants, Angels) and logged a 4.16 ERA with a 19.4% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate.
The Angels have already designated Lucchesi for assignment once this season. He passed through waivers unclaimed, elected free agency, and quickly re-signed on a new minor league contract. About two weeks later, he was back in the majors. A similar sequence could well play out again, though a team in need of some left-handed depth could always scoop him up to fill a short-term need. Lucchesi will be traded, placed on waivers or released within the next five days. Waivers are a 48-hour process, meaning his latest DFA will be resolved within a week’s time.
Angels Re-Sign Shaun Anderson To Minor League Deal
The Angels announced they’ve re-signed righty Shaun Anderson to a minor league contract. He elected free agency on Tuesday after being outrighted off the big league roster.
Anderson and the Angels clearly have a strong relationship. This is the sixth minor league deal upon which they’ve agreed over the last two seasons. The Halos have called him up a few times when they need a long reliever. He’s usually designated for assignment a few days later when they bring up a new fresh arm. Anderson clears waivers, elects free agency, then returns on a new non-roster deal.
The 31-year-old got a little longer run this month. Anderson was on the MLB roster between March 29 and April 26. He made nine appearances and allowed 13 runs (11 earned) over 16 2/3 innings. He punched out 12, issued eight walks, and surrendered a trio of homers. Anderson is up to 28 MLB frames in a Halos uniform with a 7.71 ERA since the start of 2025.
The Florida product spent the majority of last season at Triple-A Salt Lake. He worked out of the rotation and allowed just over six earned runs per nine through 24 appearances. He’ll probably stay stretched out as a starter with the Bees.
Shaun Anderson Elects Free Agency
The Angels announced Tuesday that right-hander Shaun Anderson, who was designated for assignment a few days ago, passed through waivers unclaimed. The Halos outrighted Anderson to Triple-A, but he rejected the assignment (which is his right as a player who has previously been outrighted in the past). He’s elected free agency instead.
Anderson tossed 16 2/3 innings out of the Angels’ bullpen this season. The 31-year-old was hit hard, surrendering 13 runs (11 earned) on 17 hits and eight walks with a dozen strikeouts. He also hit a batter and threw a wild pitch.
That’s now parts of seven seasons in the majors for Anderson, although most of his looks in the majors have been fleeting — as evidenced by the fact that he’s accrued only two-plus years of service in those seven partial seasons. The 2016 third-rounder (Red Sox) has a career 6.35 ERA with a subpar 16.7% strikeout rate against a solid but unspectacular 8.8% walk rate. His slider and changeup have both graded as plus pitches at various points in the past, but not much from Anderson’s arsenal has generated positive results in recent seasons.
Anderson had a solid run with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Kia Tigers in 2023 and posted very strong minor league numbers between the Triple-A affiliates for the Rangers and Marlins in 2024 (3.00 ERA, 23.4 K%, 5.9 BB%). He spent the bulk of the 2025 season in the Angels’ Triple-A rotation and was tagged for a 6.02 ERA in 23 starts (plus one bullpen outing). That rough season skewed his career line in Triple-A, but Anderson still carries a 4.35 ERA in 428 2/3 innings at that level, even with last year’s 6.02 mark in 116 2/3 frames.
Angels Release Jordan Romano
Right-hander Jordan Romano has been released by the Angels, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment a couple of days ago. He’ll now head to the open market in search of his next opportunity.
Players with at least five years of major league service time have the right to reject outright assignments to the minor leagues, instead electing free agency while retaining their salaries. The Halos have seemingly skipped that formality and opted to release Romano. They will remain on the hook for the remainder of his $2MM salary for now. Another club could sign him and only pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Angels pay.
Any interest from other clubs would not be based on recent trends. Romano has had a tough time in the past few years. He was injured for much of the 2024 season with the Blue Jays. He signed with the Phillies last year and had awful results. The Angels tried to get a bounceback but didn’t succeed. Between those three clubs, he has tossed 64 1/3 innings since the start of 2024, allowing 8.11 earned runs per nine.
That number probably overstates how poorly Romano has pitched. His 9.3% walk rate in that time was close to average, while his strikeout rate of 24.7% was a couple of ticks better than par. An 18.1% home run to fly ball rate didn’t help. His .331 batting average on balls in play and 54.2% strand rate were both to the unfortunate side. His 5.43 FIP for that time wasn’t good but far better than his ERA. On the wildly optimistic side, Romano actually has a 3.71 SIERA in that span.
Rather than sifting for positives in recent numbers, Romano’s potential is best shown in his more distant past. From 2020 to 2023, he posted a 2.29 ERA in 200 2/3 innings for the Blue Jays. He racked up 97 saves in that time with a 30.8% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and 43.3% ground ball rate.
He hasn’t been nearly as effective since, as mentioned. Despite some optimistic underlying data, getting back to that level will be difficult with such diminished stuff. Romano averaged 97.6 miles per hour on his four-seamer back in 2021. That number has ticked down every year since and has been at 94.5 mph so far in 2026. Similarly, his slider is more than 4 mph down from its peak.
Photo courtesy of William Liang, Imagn Images
Angels Designate Jordan Romano For Assignment, Select Joey Lucchesi
The Angels announced a series of moves before Sunday’s matchup against the Royals, the most notable of which was designating closer Jordan Romano for assignment. The club selected left-hander Joey Lucchesi to take his spot. Right-hander Shaun Anderson was also designated for assignment, and righty Jose Fermin was recalled. On the hitting side, catcher Logan O’Hoppe was placed on the 10-day IL with a fractured wrist. Sebastian Rivero had his contract selected to replace O’Hoppe.
Injuries to Ben Joyce, Robert Stephenson, and Kirby Yates thrust Romano into the closer role to begin the year. He initially excelled as the preferred 9th inning option, picking up four saves over six scoreless appearances to open the campaign. Romano permitted just two baserunners during that stretch, both coming via walk.
The wheels came off from there. Romano had a disastrous series against the Yankees that included five earned runs, two blown saves, and only one out recorded. He briefly recovered in two lower-leverage outings, then blew up for four earned runs in a blowout against the Royals on Saturday. Romano was pulled mid-inning for infielder Adam Frazier.
Romano emerged as one of the top closers in the game with the Blue Jays. He piled up 95 saves from 2021 to 2023, earning a pair of All-Star selections. Elbow injuries ruined his 2024 season, and he’s never been the same since then. Romano had an 8.23 ERA for the Phillies last year. He came to the Angels on a modest one-year, $2MM deal. His time with the team is over after just eight innings.
Lucchesi joined the organization in late March after getting released by the Giants. He ended up breaking camp with the Angels. The veteran lefty allowed a pair of earned runs over three appearances. He walked four and struck out two across 2 1/3 innings. Lucchesi was designated for assignment and elected free agency in early April, but returned to the organization on a minor league deal.
Fermin was up and down with the big league club for the majority of 2025. He put together a mid-4.00s ERA with a solid 25.7% strikeout rate across 40 appearances. Fermin has a big fastball, but control has been an issue. The righty posted a hefty 15.1% walk rate in 34 1/3 innings.
Anderson was knocked around for 11 earned runs in nine appearances out of the bullpen. The 31-year-old was similarly ineffective during his time with the club last year. He did not break camp with the team, but was in the majors before the end of March. Lucchesi will likely step into Anderson’s multi-inning role.
O’Hoppe was pulled from Saturday’s contest due to what was initially described as wrist irritation. He took a foul tip off the wrist in the seventh inning, but did stay in to finish the frame. Travis d’Arnaud replaced him in the eighth inning. The veteran d’Arnaud will likely assume the majority of the reps behind the plate, with Rivero backing him up.
Rivero appeared in 11 games for the Angels last season. He’s hit .172 in 107 MLB plate appearances. Before his brief stint with Los Angeles in 2025, Rivero hadn’t been in the big leagues since 2022 with the Royals. Kansas City signed him as an international free agent in 2015. After a slow ascent through the system, he reached the majors as a 22-year-old in 2021. Rivero hasn’t been even a league-average bat since his Rookie ball days, but he’s earned passable marks as a defender in his time as a big leaguer.
Photo courtesy of William Liang, Imagn Images
AL West Injury Notes: Imai, O’Hoppe, Montgomery
Astros right-hander Tatsuya Imai landed on the 15-day injured list on April 13 with what the team called right arm fatigue, but he is progressing well in his rehab. Imai is set to throw a bullpen session tomorrow and could begin a minor-league rehab assignment as early as Tuesday, manager Joe Espada told Chandler Rome of The Athletic and other media. [UPDATE: Imai will indeed start his rehab assignment Tuesday with Double-A Corpus Christi, as per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart.] Although the exact nature of his arm fatigue isn’t clear, the team is surely hoping he’ll be back sooner rather than later.
Imai signed a three-year, $54MM deal with the club over the offseason, which fell below industry expectations for the former Japanese star. He has had a rough beginning, allowing seven earned runs and 11 unintentional walks in just 8 2/3 innings over three starts. That’s a very small sample, of course, and there is still plenty of time for Imai to establish himself as a big-league starter. For the Astros, the big picture concern is the fact that so many of their starting pitchers are injured right now. Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier are both out with Grade 2 right shoulder strains and won’t return for another 4-6 weeks. The struggling pitching staff, which has a 5.97 ERA overall, is the main reason the club is out to a 10-18 start in 2026.
A couple other injury notes from the AL West:
- Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe was removed from today’s game due to left wrist irritation, the team announced. O’Hoppe took a foul ball off his wrist and finished the inning after being visited by the trainer. Travis d’Arnaud took over behind the plate in the eighth. O’Hoppe is now in his third season as the club’s starting catcher, though he has not been a productive hitter since 2024, when he posted a 102 wRC+ in 522 plate appearances. He declined in 2025, posting a mere 72 wRC+, and has been about the same to start 2026. It is unclear whether O’Hoppe will miss any time. Given the wrist irritation is in his receiving hand, the club might opt to play it safe for the next few days to avoid compromising his defense. He and d’Arnaud are the only catchers on the 40-man roster, so any absence might motivate the team to scour the waiver wire for a depth option.
- Rangers left-hander Jordan Montgomery threw a bullpen session today and will have at least one more before progressing to face live hitters, according to Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News. Based on that, he seems to be on track in his recovery from March 2025. Montgomery signed a one-year, major-league deal with the Rangers in February, with the expectation that he would start the year on the 60-day injured list before returning later in the season. His last season as an effective starter was in 2023, when he was worth 4.2 fWAR in 32 starts between the Cardinals and the World-Series winning Rangers. Now 33 and coming off an extended absence, he won’t be expected to replicate that upon his return. In the best case for Montgomery, he could slot in as a back-end arm if Jacob deGrom or Nathan Eovaldi gets injured or one of Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter underperforms.
Photo courtesy of Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images
AL West Notes: Garcia, Angels, Wisdom
Robert Garcia came out of a relief appearance on Thursday with a sore throwing shoulder, and Rangers manager Skip Schumaker told reporters (including the Dallas Morning News’ Evan Grant) that Garcia underwent an MRI today to access the damage. The results of the testing isn’t yet known, but while Schumaker believes the situation isn’t too serious, Grant notes that Garcia is likely to need a few more days of rest and recovery even if the MRI comes back clean.
It has been an unusual start to the season for Garcia, who has a 3.38 ERA over eight innings despite recording more walks (seven) than strikeouts (six). Batted-ball luck has played a role, as Garcia has benefited from a .238 BABIP and a 52.4% grounder rate. Despite the shaky performance to date, the Rangers can hardly afford to lose Garcia to the injury bug, given how fellow relievers Chris Martin, Luis Curvelo, and Carter Baumler are already on the 15-day IL.
More from around the AL West…
- Angels manager Kurt Suzuki updated the media (including Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group) on the status of several injured pitchers today. Grayson Rodriguez and Ben Joyce are both expected to start facing hitters in a live batting-practice setting within the next few days, while Alek Manoah has been facing hitters at the Angels’ spring facility in Arizona. This trio began the season on the 15-day IL, as Rodriguez has been dealing with shoulder inflammation, Manoah with a finger contusion, and Joyce is in the final stages of his recovery from a May 2025 shoulder surgery. Kirby Yates also began the year on the 15-day IL due to left knee inflammation, but the reliever started a Triple-A rehab assignment on Friday. Yates told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger that the rehab assignment will consist of at least a few more games, as Yates is still working on building up his velocity and gaining some weight.
- Catching up on an IL placement from Friday, the Mariners sent Patrick Wisdom to the 10-day injured list (retroactive to April 15) due to a left oblique strain. Wisdom just had his minor league contract selected to the 26-man roster on Tuesday and he appeared in that day’s game as a pinch-hitter before getting hurt. The lone appearance marked Wisdom’s first MLB game since 2024, when the infielder was still a member of the Cubs.
Angels Recall Walbert Ureña, Option Sam Aldegheri
The Angels have announced that they’ve recalled right-hander Walbert Ureña from Triple-A. Lefty Sam Aldegheri is being optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move.
Ureña returns to the big leagues after making two appearances during the club’s season-opening series against the Astros. That was the 22-year-old’s first big-league experience. Though he didn’t allow an earned run in 1 2/3 innings, he surrendered five hits and six unearned runs while also giving up three unintentional walks. He was optioned to Triple-A on March 29 and has since made two starts with a 6.48 ERA. He spent most of 2025 at the Double-A level, where he posted a 4.39 ERA in 27 starts along with an impressive 58.5% groundball rate.
The right-hander was signed as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2021. He currently ranks as the Halos’ No. 18 prospect according to MLB.com, although his inconsistent command has kept him from becoming a top prospect. Ureña has posted walk rates around 12% in the upper levels of the minors. While his scouting report lauds him for his plus fastball, his secondary pitches haven’t developed to the point where a long-term future as a starter seems possible. Still, he is very young and just debuted this year, so he has plenty of time to prove himself. Whatever his long-term role, Ureña’s success hinges on his ability to keep racking up groundballs while improving his secondary pitches enough to achieve an average strikeout rate.
Aldegheri’s demotion comes after just one appearance for the big-league club this season. He threw 33 pitches in Thursday’s win over the Yankees, striking out two while allowing one run on a solo homer. Since debuting in 2024, the 24-year-old has made a total of eight appearances (five starts) without much success. His 16.2% career strikeout rate puts him right around Ureña’s minor-league numbers, while his 14.2% walk rate is untenable against big-league hitters. Aldegheri had a 3.72 ERA in 23 starts at Double-A last year, but he hasn’t been able to put it together yet at Triple-A or in the majors.
Despite their struggles, both Ureña and Aldegheri should get their share of opportunities with the big-league club this year. The Angels’ bullpen ranks as a bottom-10 unit in the league by fWAR (-0.1) through April 17. The group’s 4.46 ERA ranks 18th in the league, and their 4.72 FIP suggests they’ve been somewhat lucky to achieve that performance. Brent Suter and Sam Bachman have done well, and Ryan Zeferjahn has made up for a subpar 4.82 ERA with stronger peripherals, including a 32.5% strikeout rate. The rest of the arms, including veterans Shaun Anderson and Drew Pomeranz, have struggled. Despite their 11-10 start, the Angels are still in a place where they will prioritize opportunities for young players over immediate contention.
Photo courtesy of Thomas Shea, Imagn Images